2006 NS Contract - Legacy Research Assoc Cultural & Archaeological Survey New Hope Park Blackwood Farm

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5 SCOPE OF WORK Cultural and Archaeological Survey Blackwood Farm Orange County, NC I. Project Background Orange County owns a 152 -acre property (the former "Blackwood farm ") that is being planned for future use as a public park. The property is located midway between Hillsborough and Chapel Hill, near the intersection of NC 86 and New Hope Church Road, and just east of Interstate 40 (Exit 263). (See vicinity map). The property is surrounded by a combination of undeveloped and rural residential properties. It is bounded to the east by NC 86 (New Hope Elementary School is across the road), to the south by a 16 -acre undeveloped property (Strayhorn) and New Hope Church Road, to the west by a 50 -acre forested tract (Keenan- Ritchey) and Interstate 40, and to the north by eight wooded residential lots. A 1998 orthophoto of the property is provided as Map 1. The former farm was in the Blackwood family from 1906 until Orange County purchased the site in 2001. Prior owners included the Strayhorn family who also farmed the land over a long period beginning in late 1700s. Preliminary deed research has been completed for the property, and will be available for this project. Most of the original farm is intact; the old farmhouse, (ca. 1827 with later additions), and supporting outbuildings are surrounded by agricultural fields and mature woodlands in a highly scenic rural setting. Some of the setting was compromised by the construction of nearby 1-40 in 1988. Structures on the property are clustered around the farmhouse located at the west end of the driveway entrance from NC 86. They include a large barn, smokehouse, milk house, milking parlor, chicken house, corncrib, and garage'. The Blackwoods operated a dairy and sold their dairy products and vegetables in Durham (taking their wagon door -to door). Traces of an old roadway runs by the front of the house and through the property, which was once a principle north -south road between Hillsborough and Chapel Hill. The property also includes an overgrown cemetery, which recent members of the Blackwood family believe had been for slaves who worked on the farm. Orange County ERCD has gathered a good deal of information about the Blackwood Farm from various sources, including farm records, deed research, old maps and aerial photos, and oral histories by the UNC Southern Oral History Program. Much of this information will be available to the Contractor and useful for site interpretation once the park is open to the public. 1 Since acquisition of the Blackwood Farm in 2001, the County has taken several actions to care for the property in the areas of building maintenance /improvements, grounds keeping, and security. 2